Losing Faith in America’s Political System

[stephanie]

:clap:

Posted on March 15, 2008
By Carl Sterling Parnell, Ed.D.

America’s political system was birthed at the signing of the United States Constitution in September 1787. Then, on April 30, 1789, America’s political system began its over 200 years of success when George Washington became the first President of the United States. Since that infamous date, many Presidents, many members of Congress, and many members of the Supreme Court have served their country faithfully. They developed a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” They have worked diligently to make America a safe and economically-blessed nation.

However, during the post modern era, America’s political system has drastically changed in its perception of its role in the American society. Unfortunately, the politicians, who spend millions of dollars to get our vote on election day, have failed to follow the foundational principles of their forefathers. Instead, they have taken a new approach to the day- to-day operations of America’s political system. Basically, they have become more concerned about their grandiose, self-centered goals than the goals of the millions of people that they were elected to represent. Therefore, average Americans are losing faith in the greatest political system in the world.

Why are Americans losing faith in their government? In order to find out the reason average Americans are losing faith in their government, I ask this very question to faculty and staff at the private, Christian school where I am a teacher. They gave me some very informative answers. Some of the responses were as follows:

Untrustworthiness of the politician to make the decision for the public good instead of for his/her personal benefit.

The lack of faith in God by many politicians and their lack of morals.

The distrust of many politicians by average Americans.

The government has been declining greatly over the last 50 years due to corrupt politicians and lack of integrity.

Politicians cannot lead people who they are not really concerned about leading.

However, as seen in these different opinions, politicians have been blamed for the failure of America’s political system. But, one respondent to the survey voiced a strong opinion that put the blame on average Americans. Her opinion was:

Our Constitution frames the best form of government on the planet. The balance of powers and the system of checks and balances provided a framework that allowed our young country to grow and develop and remain despot free for the last 220 years. The government itself is not what I have lost faith in. “We the People” is what I have lost faith in.

“We the People” have allowed the government to become a bloated over-fed parody of its original self. The original structure is still there, just hidden under layers upon layers of law. Our government has become too big for its britches. Our congressmen pass legislation on almost a nit picky level. Do we need the seatbelt law? Shouldn’t a grown adult decide whether or not to wear a seatbelt? Do we need a law that says you can’t sell non-diet drinks in a school? I think it might be the parent’s job to educate their children about what to drink and when to drink it.

read the rest..
http://www.crossactionnews.com/articles/view/losing-faith-in-americas-political-system

[Gaffer]

I lost faith in the system a long time ago. And it is because of the politicians and the obesity of the government. The government needs to be placed on a serious diet. Maybe some liposuction as well.

[Abbey Marie]

...

“We the People” have allowed the government to become a bloated over-fed parody of its original self. The original structure is still there, just hidden under layers upon layers of law. Our government has become too big for its britches. Our congressmen pass legislation on almost a nit picky level. Do we need the seatbelt law? Shouldn’t a grown adult decide whether or not to wear a seatbelt? Do we need a law that says you can’t sell non-diet drinks in a school? I think it might be the parent’s job to educate their children about what to drink and when to drink it.

read the rest..
http://www.crossactionnews.com/articles/view/losing-faith-in-americas-political-system

While I agree that gov't bloat and intrusiveness are problems, we in turn can blame these nanny type laws on an unbridled judicial system that richly rewards plaintiffs and attorneys for bringing even the most asinine suits. That "grown adult" is more than likely to turn around and sue for injuries that a seat belt might have prevented, because he can.

[April15]

What single item has had more influence on America, schools or TV? I would venture to say that the one eyed monster is THE reason common sense has been lost by Americans.
Think about how towns used to be. You bought a truck cause you needed one for hauling material. A car was transportation not an ego satisfier. What happened in europe didn't really make a shit bit of difference to the average Joe. And no one heard of muslims.
We were a self seficient secure people. Nowadays many don't even know what secure is.

[DragonStryk72]

In the end, the last point is true, the only reason our government is not correcting itself is because we have removed We the People as the limiter on them. We will not get anything out of voting Dem or Rep, because, frankly, they're only in it for themselves.

How many Republicans have backed one of theirs who has been slapped with a serious scandal, when they would have lined up for lynching a Dem who had done exactly the same thing? How many Democrats have done the same against Republicans? If you want every to stay the same, or get worse, then go ahead, vote Democrat, vote republican.

[5stringJeff]

And if you keep on voting for Democrats and Republicans, you'll never change this system.

[Hugh Lincoln]

“We the People” have allowed the government to become a bloated over-fed parody of its original self. The original structure is still there, just hidden under layers upon layers of law. Our government has become too big for its britches. Our congressmen pass legislation on almost a nit picky level. Do we need the seatbelt law? Shouldn’t a grown adult decide whether or not to wear a seatbelt? Do we need a law that says you can’t sell non-diet drinks in a school? I think it might be the parent’s job to educate their children about what to drink and when to drink it.



Good article, steph. This passage is so true. You know, the media always talks about how Congress is "doing a bad job" because they haven't "gotten anything done," i.e., passed laws. The funny thing is, I think the MORE laws and rules you need, the SICKER and MORE MESSED UP your society is, not the other way around.

The founding fathers never envisioned Congress getting involved in school kids' snacks. But that's where we are. Our smallness is a sign of our... well, smallness.

[Gunny]

I lost faith in the system a long time ago. And it is because of the politicians and the obesity of the government. The government needs to be placed on a serious diet. Maybe some liposuction as well.


Yeah, I was wondering where the "-ing" in "losing" came from. It's a "t" here too.

Only I'm thinking full lobotomy rather than diet.

[mundame]

I've also lost faith in the political system.

What's the point in voting if the politicians constantly lie to us? You can't usefully vote on lies.

There is complete lack of accountability. Bush lied us into war and then didn't bother to pay attention enough to win --- so years later he decides to put MORE troops to die there, to no point, simply because he can, because he has the power even though the polls were overwhelmingly against that and in favor of getting out.

They can do whatever they have power to do that the process gives them ------ they care nothing about what the people want.

Same deal with the Democrats. They were landslided in 2006 to get us OUT of this war: but did they? Nope, didn't bother. They COULD have --- they could have stopped the funding. But they just didn't bother. So the war drags on and on and on, pointlessly.

I may vote for Hillary, if she comes out on top, but not Obama and not McCain. It's all beginning to seem pointless, as though America is in our "decline and fall."